{"id":93665,"date":"2024-03-04T11:37:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T16:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/german-days-of-the-week\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T05:02:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T10:02:56","slug":"german-days-of-the-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/german\/german-days-of-the-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Days of the Week in German"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are seven important words in the German language, can you guess which words these are? The days of the week.<\/p>\n

With this handy guide, you’ll not only learn the days of the week in German, but also how to practice them, a few must-know grammatical points and interesting cultural info.<\/p>\n

Heute<\/strong><\/em> (today), let’s learn the Wochentage<\/b><\/em>\u00a0(days of the week).\u00a0<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

German Days of the Week\"German<\/h2>\n

Here are the seven days of the week in German along with their pronunciations as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
English<\/th>German<\/th>Pronunciation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Monday<\/td> Montag<\/em> <\/a>\n <\/td>Mon-tahk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday<\/td> Dienstag<\/em> <\/a>\n <\/td>Deens-tahk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday<\/td> Mittwoch<\/em> <\/a>\n <\/td>Mit-vokh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday<\/td> Donnerstag<\/em> <\/a>\n <\/td>Dohn-ners-tahk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday<\/td> Freitag<\/em> <\/a>\n <\/td>Fry-tahk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday<\/td> Samstag<\/em> <\/a>\n <\/td>Zahm-stahk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday<\/td> Sonntag<\/em> <\/a>\n <\/td>Zon-tahk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Let’s look at each day in detail!<\/p>\n

Montag <\/em> \u2014 Monday<\/h3>\n

Abbreviation:<\/strong> Mo.<\/p>\n

In German,\u00a0Mond\u00a0<\/em>means “moon,” so\u00a0Montag\u00a0<\/em>literally means “moon-day.”<\/p>\n

As with most languages, the German days tend to correspond with celestial bodies or mythological beings. As you could probably guess by the look and sound of it, Montag<\/i> is Monday and the first day of the workweek.<\/p>\n

Dienstag <\/em> \u2014 Tuesday<\/h3>\n

Abbreviation:<\/strong> Di.<\/p>\n

The name for German’s Tuesday comes from an old Germanic god, Tyr. Tyr was actually the Germanic name for Mars, the Roman god of war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s interesting to note that while the name was different, the patron god of Tuesday is the same being as many other languages and cultures such as Italian, French and Spanish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mittwoch <\/em>\u2014 Wednesday<\/h3>\n

Abbreviation:<\/strong> Mi.<\/p>\n

Wednesday in German is interesting because it breaks the pattern. Notice that it doesn’t end in\u00a0-tag,\u00a0<\/em>which means “day.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, it ends in\u00a0-woch,\u00a0<\/em>or “week.” That’s because the direct translation for this word is actually “mid-week.”<\/p>\n

Donnerstag <\/em> \u2014 Thursday<\/h3>\n

Abbreviation:<\/strong> Do.<\/p>\n

In English, Thursday comes from “Thor’s-day,” which is a day dedicated to the Norse god of thunder, Thor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In German, the name for this same god is Donar, so once again we see the parallels between English and German.<\/p>\n

Fre<\/em>itag<\/em> \u2014 Friday<\/h3>\n

Abbreviation:<\/strong> Fr.<\/p>\n

Another day that originates from a Norse god, Freitag<\/em> is in honor of the goddess Frigg, otherwise known as Freya.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frigg was the goddess of fertility, marriage, motherhood and the home. Her name is used for both Freitag<\/em> and Friday.<\/p>\n

Samstag <\/em> \u2014 Saturday<\/h3>\n

Abbreviation:<\/strong> Sa.<\/p>\n

Samstag\u00a0<\/em>originates from a Greek word that means “sabbath.” Sonnabend\u00a0<\/em>means\u00a0“sun-evening” and is in reference to the fact that Saturday comes before Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While\u00a0Samstag\u00a0<\/em>is the universal name for Saturday in German, you may also hear it be referred to as\u00a0Sonnabend\u00a0<\/em>in northern and western Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sonntag <\/em>\u2014 Sunday<\/h3>\n

Abbreviation:<\/strong> So.<\/p>\n

Just as the English word for Sunday includes “sun,” so does the German word. Sonne\u00a0<\/em>is “sun” in German, so Sonntag\u00a0<\/em>is a variation of this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sunday in Germany is regarded very highly, as the culture cherishes reserving this day for spending time with family.<\/p>\n

Almost all stores are closed on Sundays and most German families will spend the day in cafes, taking a stroll and decidedly not shopping or working.<\/p>\n

German Grammar with the Days of the Week<\/h2>\n

There are a few grammatical rules you need to know to use the German days of the week correctly.<\/p>\n

Gender<\/h3>\n

All the days of the week are masculine,\u00a0<\/strong>which means they take the masculine articles\u00a0der<\/em> (the) and ein<\/em> (a) <\/strong>in the nominative case<\/a>. But as you’ll see below, the article is rarely ever needed for the weekdays, just like in English.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A little trick to remember this is that the German word der Tag<\/strong><\/em> (the day) is masculine<\/strong>. German compound words take the gender of the word at the end. Mittwoch<\/em> (Wednesday) is an exception, but you can just memorize that it’s masculine, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prepositions<\/h3>\n

Use am<\/em> (on) to denote that something is happening on a particular day. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Am Samstag habe ich mich mit meinen Freunden getroffen. <\/em>(On Saturday, I met up with my friends.)<\/p>\n

Am Donnerstag bin ich einkaufen gegangen. <\/em>(On Thursday, I went shopping.)<\/p>\n

Use von … bis …<\/em> to say “from … to …”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Von Montag bis Donnerstag bin ich in Kopenhagen. <\/em>(From Monday to Thursday, I am in Copenhagen.)<\/p>\n

Ich arbeite von Montag bis Freitag. <\/em>(I work from Monday to Friday.)<\/p>\n

Capitalization<\/h3>\n

The days of the week are always capitalized because they are nouns. <\/strong>But if you make them into adverbs, they lose that capital letter.<\/p>\n

Why would you want them to be adverbs? So you can easily say you regularly do something on a certain weekday with a single word!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Take a weekday, make the first letter lowercase and add -s: <\/strong>montags, dienstags, mittwochs…<\/em><\/p>\n

Ich gehe sonntags in die Kirche.<\/em> (I go to church on Sundays.)<\/p>\n

Samstags esse ich Pfannkuchen.<\/em> (I eat pancakes on Saturdays.)<\/p>\n

Mittwochs tragen wir pink.\u00a0<\/em>(On Wednesdays, we wear pink.)<\/p>\n

German Phrases Related to the Days of the Week<\/h2>\n

Now that you have the days of the week in German and some grammar, have a look at some other words and phrases you might need to talk about them.<\/p>\n

heute<\/em> \u2014 today<\/p>\n

morgen<\/em> \u2014 tomorrow<\/p>\n

gestern<\/em> \u2014 yesterday<\/p>\n

Welchen Tag haben wir heute?<\/em> \u2014 What day is it today?<\/p>\n

Welchen Tag haben wir morgen?<\/em> \u2014 What day will it be tomorrow?<\/p>\n

das Wochenende<\/em> \u2014 the weekend<\/p>\n

der Wochentag<\/em> \u2014 the weekday<\/p>\n

n\u00e4chsten Montag<\/em> \u2014 next Monday<\/p>\n

letzten Dienstag<\/em> \u2014 last Tuesday<\/p>\n

jeden Mittwoch<\/em> \u2014 every Wednesday<\/p>\n

Tips for Learning the German Days of the Week<\/h2>\n

Here are some more creative methods of learning and remembering the days of the week in German.\u00a0<\/p>\n